The Government started the recruitment under the Member Self-recommendation Scheme for Youth today (June 15). The application period will close on July 16.

Chief Secretary for Administration cum Chairman of the Youth Development Commission Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said, "This term of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government strives to do our best in youth development work by addressing their concerns about education, career pursuit and home ownership, and encouraging their participation in politics as well as public policy discussion and debate. These include giving young people more opportunities to participate in public affairs so that the Government can better understand their views and suggestions and take them into account.

Since last year, we have started to appoint young people to become members of specified boards and committees by self-recommendation through the Pilot Member Self-recommendation Scheme for Youth. The target is to increase the overall ratio of youth members (i.e. persons who are aged between 18 and 35) on government boards and committees from the current 8.6 per cent to 15 per cent within the duration of the current-term Government."

A spokesman for the Home Affairs Bureau said, "in the light of the overwhelming response to the Pilot Member Self-recommendation Scheme for Youth launched last October, the Government will regularise the scheme and rename it as Member Self-recommendation Scheme for Youth (MSSY). The scheme will be extended to more boards and committees which cover a wide spectrum of policy areas. It will be rolled out twice every year to provide more opportunities for young people to participate in policy discussion."

The first phase of MSSY opened for application today. The following ten committees will each offer two seats under MSSY -

"Young people aged between 18 and 35 on July 16, 2018, i.e. the close of application, are invited to self-nominate to become members of the ten specified committees,” the spokesman continued.

A Recruitment Committee (RC) has been set up for overseeing the implementation of the MSSY. The RC comprises the Secretary for Home Affairs, the Vice-Chairman of the Youth Development Commission, non-official chairpersons or members of the afore-mentioned ten committees and representatives of the bureaux/departments concerned. Under the RC, ten Assessment Panels (APs) will be formed to take care of the applications concerning the ten committees respectively. AP members include the non-official chairperson and/or members of the committee concerned and representatives of the bureau/department concerned.

The spokesman said, "the APs will consider whether the applicant has strong commitment to serve the community, good understanding of the policy area concerned, as well as good analytical and communication skills. The APs will conduct interviews with applicants to facilitate the assessment." Following the principle of meritocracy, the Government aims to, through the MSSY, recruit young people who have the commitment to serve the community and the ability to contribute to the committees concerned for recommending to the relevant bureaux/departments for consideration of appointment. Subject to the actual number of applications received, the recruitment exercise is expected to be completed in the last quarter of this year.

The application form and other details of the MSSY are available on the website of the Home Affairs Bureau (www.hab.gov.hk). In completing the application form, the applicant needs to write no more than 600 words or provide a video / audio clip of no longer than three minutes to explain, in either Chinese or English, his/her suitability of being appointed to be a member of the relevant committee. Applications may be submitted through the online application system, by post or by hand.